[lojban] Re: A word "number of". It shouldn't be that hard. Yeesh.

[Jorge Llambías <lojban-out@lojban.org>]

On 6/3/05, Robin Lee Powell <rlpowell@digitalkingdom.org> wrote:
> On Tue, May 31, 2005 at 10:30:55PM -0400, Kevin Reid wrote:
> > What's the appropriate selbri for "x1 is the number of
> > members/cardinality of set x2"?
> >
> > {mei} is obvious, but does not have an ordinary place for the
> > number, so can't be used directly for a sumti referring to the
> > number.
> >
> > So far, I see:
> >
> >   lo se zilkancu be sy.
> >
> >   lo se klani be sy.   -- what's the x3?
> >
> >   da poi de vei mo'e ke'a ve'o mei sy. ku'o
> 
> I have no idea.  I'm just hoping someone else will notice.

For precision, {zilkancu}, which can't be confused with anything else.
zil-words are ugly, but I suppose we have to get used to them. 
See <http://jbovlaste.lojban.org/dict/zilkancu>.

For everyday use, {klani} is probably enough. I use the x3 for the units,
which is the useful thing to have rather than for a scale. If you insist on 
following the gi'uste on that, then {lo se gradu be} will convert from scale
to units. So:

    ta klani li ci lo plise
    Those are 3 apples.

or:

   ta klani li ci lo se gradu be lo plise
   Those are three on a scale whose units are apples.

mu'o mi'e xorxes